Mabch 6, 1896.] 



SGIENGE. 



353 



ture of the air, and with considerable rapidity 

 if the lead be warmed, though far from melted. 

 Evidence as to the presence of wandering 

 atoms in a solid possesses much interest now 

 that views as to the nature of metals and other 

 solids have been extended by the discovery 

 that certain rays of light will penetrate them. 



The Postmaster-General has modified the 

 order forbidding the use of the mails for the 

 transmission of specimen germs of cholera or 

 otlier diseased tissues. By special permit and 

 in mailing packages constructed in accordance 

 with special specifications such germs may be 

 transmitted to United States or municipal lab- 

 oratories. 



According to the Boston Transcript Mr. 

 Charles B. Gary, curator of the ornithological 

 department of the Field Columbian Museum, 

 has established at Palm Beach, Florida, a 

 museum devoted to the natural history of the 

 State, which is soon to be opened to the public. 

 An excellent collection of birds, reptiles, mam- 

 mals, fishes, etc., is already in order, and 

 aquaria are to be fitted up for the study of salt 

 and fi-esh water fishes. 



A DEPUTATION has appeared before Mr. 

 Chaplin at the House of Commons to urge that 

 the present English legislation, which practi- 

 cally prohibits the use of self-propelled wagons, 

 be repealed. Mr. Chaplin said that he was in 

 full sympathy with the movement represented 

 by the deputation. A bill was now being pre- 

 pared by the Local Government Board, and he 

 hoped, with the assistance of Mr. Russell, to 

 carry it without opposition through the House 

 this session. 



The March number of McClure's Magazine 

 contains an article on scientific kite flying by 

 Mr. Cleveland Mofiett, describing with illustra- 

 tions the experiments made by Mr. Eddy. 



By the courtesy of those in charge of the ex- 

 hibit of the Plant System at Atlanta, the United 

 States National museum has obtained a number 

 of fossils from the Peace Creek phosphate de- 

 posit. The greater part of these, including 

 some well preserved teeth, are remains of the 

 mammoth Elephas primigenius colombi, and are 

 interesting as showing the large average size of 

 the Florida mammoth. Among the smaller 



specimens is a fine metacarpus and molar of 

 Bison latifrons, the former indicating an animal 

 a trifle over six feet high at the shoulder, 

 about nine inches taller than Bison americanus. 

 Two molars of a species of Procamelus are prob- 

 ably referrable to Anchenia minimus of Leidy 

 and are the first of this species that have come 

 to light. 



A RECENT paper by Dr. Gustav Hartlaub, 

 issued as a reprint from Abhandlungen des Na- 

 turwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen treats of 

 birds which have recently become extinct or 

 whose numbers have been so reduced that the 

 species seems threatened with extinction. 

 Twenty-three are placed in the first category 

 and twenty in the second, although some of 

 these, like Notornis mantelli, are practically ex- 

 tinct. Man and his familiars, cats, rats and 

 hogs, are directly responsible for most of the 

 destruction; and Dr. Hartlaub, in an introduc- 

 tory chapter, treats of the various ways in 

 which it is brought about. References to the 

 more important literature on the species dis- 

 cussed, and a statement of the institutions in 

 which the rarer species are preserved, make 

 the paper particularly valuable to the ornitholo- 

 gist. 



Dr. Leidy' s delayed posthumous memoir on 

 fossil vertebrates from the Alachua clays of 

 Florida is now in press, and will appear as a 

 part of the transactions of the Wagner Free 

 Institute of Science. 



A NEW monthly journal of entomology has 

 appeared in Tokyo, Japan, under the title 

 Konchii Gaku Zasshi, or Journal of Insect Sci- 

 ence. The first number was issued in October 

 last, and is wholly in Japanese, excepting an 

 English title and the statement that the plate 

 represents insects injurious to rice and mul- 

 berry. 



WiLHELM Engelmann, Leipzig, announces 

 the early publication of a Grundriss der Psychol- 

 ogic by Prof. W. Wundt. The book is awaited 

 with much interest, and should be translated 

 into English without delay. Prof. Wundt is by 

 common consent the preeminent representative 

 of modern psychology. His Menschen und 

 Thierseele, published more than thirty years ago, 

 defined the course that psychology has since 



